A friend of mine wrote that. I wish I could take credit, but I just stole it and decided to build an article around it.
Last night I went to see a drag show at my daughter’s university. I went to bed feeling grateful, I woke up feeling grateful. And now, I am lingering in it. What struck me was the joy these somewhat shy kids emitted while performing. I know several of them, and was fortunate to meet several more last night. All, were so kind to me. Let’s face it, I was the oddball in that room; a 58 year old woman with black lipstick and Spider-Man knee socks. I was trying for…I don’t know what I was trying for. But it didn’t matter, these kids were just happy to be in a room filled with all sorts of people who loved seeing them in all their creative brilliance. They were simultaneously fun, sexy, unique and authentic.
I have wanted to go to a drag show for….forever. I had no idea what to expect. Years ago I was in Las Vegas and they were having…I guess something like a Ms. Trans Universe Pageant. At least 40 of the most gorgeous leggy women I have ever seen walked past me while I was seated at a sushi bar. Perfect hair, makeup, clothes, 6 inch heals. The man next to me gave me a gobsmacked look that I returned. We were strangers united in our appreciation of their fabulousness. I have been around pageant women before but there is something undefinably exotic about trans women. I know a lot of people are uncomfortable finding a man beautiful or a woman handsome but beauty is beauty. Why do we need to define it? Why do we need to put our insecurities onto others who are perfectly secure with who they are? Or could be if society would just chill the fuck out. Life is hard enough without hiding who you are. People we love get cancer and die. Big nations invade little nations for their resources. Kids walk into school rooms and kill other kids. What is society doing about it? Condemning the trans community. Really? That is what keeps you up at night? Your kid being trans? Not your kid joining a frat and becoming a rapist or your daughter being raped or ai taking all the jobs or the climate collapsing into chaos? There are SO many things that can go wrong. So many things we humans get wrong. Letting people be who they are is not one of them.
That was obvious to me last night as I watched the performances. I think Drag has evolved into more. Costumes are a big thing. One performer had a mask (I have attached a picture) that was created on a 3D printer. It was amazing. The mask with a Victorian looking black dress and collar that looked like something from the Elizabethan age. This juxtaposed with a 3D printed bullet style bomb that the witch played like a guitar. The whole thing was performance art but GOOD! It made so many statements with nothing but music and props. There were parts that were provocatively risqué. But it wasn’t gratuitous, not like violence or woman’s boobs selling cars. The butts and strategically covered genitals were there in a “this is who I am, society is making a thing of it, so here it is. No apologies”. I found it powerful.
All the music last night was fantastic. Several of the performances had dancing and lip sinking and great costumes. There was sexual ambiguity. Society likes to draw a hard line between the sexes. The older I get, the more blurred I realize that line is. My whole generation went ga ga over Prince. He wore eye liner, frilly shirts, purple coats and high heeled boots. His whole look was blurred and lets face it, he out sexied the most macho of men and feminine women. Annie Lennox, same thing. She was at her most alluring when dressed like a man, orange hair cut in a long burr. Boy George, Flock of Sea Gulls, too many to name. The most interesting thing about Gen X was this blurred world of creativity and self expression we embraced. What happened to us? We use to be edgy. And what is more fierce, provocative, boundary pushing and edgy than a drag show?
Thank goodness, every generation produces rebels. Those willing to go on stage and be themselves. I have so much gratitude for them. Whether we realize it or not, they are the ones keeping the door cracked open to freedoms we take for granted. Without them, the door might just slam shut for us all.